


Awayday

by AnthemGlass



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Skinner/Staals friends since childhood, Angsty Jeff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-10 23:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthemGlass/pseuds/AnthemGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric finds Jeff pushing himself too hard after a game.  While trying to get Jeff to chill out he accidentally spurs a series of childhood memories involving Halloween shenanigans, all of the Staal brothers, and a particularly awesome Eric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awayday

**Author's Note:**

> My first Jeff/Eric fic! As such, I'm a newbie and had to do research and really basically tried to stay away from anything that I could get wrong about them. That said, I have no idea how Halloween works in Canada... so I just modeled it off of Virginia... I read somewhere that Canadians hand out soda? But it was the internet so...... yeah. 
> 
> Also the memory of the Staals is actually a true story that my brothers did for me when I was in 1st grade. There's a reason why my brothers are my heroes. 
> 
> Un-beta'd so you know.... yeah....

“Hey,” Jeff half grunts as he takes another practice shot.

“Hey yourself,” Eric smirks leaning on the entrance to the ice.  He's dressed in one of his suits, Jeff has to do his best to keep his eyes off the guy.  “Aren’t you exhausted?”

Jeff just shrugs and takes another shot. 

“They’re going to want to close this place up,” Eric continues.  “Why don’t you take it easy.  You played almost forty minutes tonight, maybe more ice time might do more bad than good?”

“I’m fine,” Jeff says, his most recent shot slicing to the left.  He is off his game.  Silence falls in the rink but Jeff can tell that Eric hasn’t left.

_“Aren’t you scared of ghosts?”_

“What did you say?”  Jeff stands up from his crouched shooting position and looks at Eric, memories threatening to break floodgates in his mind.

“It’s Halloween,” Eric winks.  “What about the ghosts?”

-

_“Aren’t you scared of ghosts?”  Eric chides._

_“I’m not scared,” Jeff pouts.  “I’m not scared of anything!”_

_“BOO!”  Jordan shouts from behind causing Jeff to launch up from the blanket they’re sitting on._

_Eric and the rest of the Staal brothers break down laughing at their orchestrated scare.  Jeff’s frown deepens at the prospect of their teasing being directed at him all night.  It’s hard being the youngest._

_They’d celebrated Eric’s fourteenth birthday the day before.  For the last two years Jeff has had a sleepover with the Staal brothers post-Eric's birthday.  They essentially consist of junk food, PG-13 movies he’s not supposed to see, and all-around mayhem and pranks.  The Staals liked to spread the wealth and not focus on Jeff, so they usually aimed a few good pranks at Jared or Jordan._

_“I think you’re too scared to go out for Halloween tomorrow,” Marc adds as Jeff catches his breath._

_“No way!”  Jeff exclaims.  “I can’t wait!  And I’m going to have so much candy!”_

_Eric smiles.  He’s getting a bit old for these sleepovers and he knows it.  But hanging with his brothers (and more recently Jeff) is always the highlight of his birthday.  On the eve of Halloween, the brothers are ecstatic and impatient to unveil their costumes and run to houses and collect a sizable loot.  Eric is far too old for that, luckily his job is to watch the kids, and so what if he brings a bag too?_

_They eventually break into the leftover cake from the day before which leads to a catastrophic sugar high and subsequent crash at around one in the morning._

-

“Come on Jeff,” Eric says sternly.  Jeff realizes that Eric is not going to leave him alone, so he might as well just come back tomorrow.  He sighs and hits his stick against the ice before skating over to Eric and heading to the locker room.

Eric stands awkwardly watching Jeff beginning the ritual of shedding his uniform and pads.  As more and more layers are shucked off he has to avert his gaze.  When Eric chances a glance he find Jeff staring back at him, clad in only a pair of black spandex shorts that leave little to Eric’s active imagination. 

Jeff silently stands from his bench and takes a few testing steps towards Eric.  Eric shifts uncomfortably in the steady gaze of his young teammate and friend. 

“How was your birthday?”  Jeff asks.  The question paired with Jeff’s approach seems innocuous, but Eric sees it for the distraction it is and he steps back.

“Uh,” Eric clears his throat.  “It was fine.”

Jeff stops his advance but smirks knowingly.  “Yeah?”

Eric nods silently.

_“Did you get everything you wanted?”_

Eric tilts his head at the familiar question spoken from unfamiliar lips...

-

_“Did you get everything you wanted?”  Mrs. Skinner asks smiling._

_“Yeah!”  Eric smiles wide.  “I did!  Hey!  Is Jeff here?  We wanted to go ahead and start trick-or-treating!”_

_Mrs. Skinner frowns, ushering Eric inside.  “I’m afraid Jeff is quite sick,” she explains.  Eric feels his heart fall.  Jeff had been looking forward to Halloween so much (and of course to the resulting payload of treats).  Eric knows deep down that the amount of cake Jeff ate probably has something to do with it and he instantly feels worse._

_“He’s going to have to sit this one out,” Mrs. Skinner continues._

_“Okay,” Eric nods glumly.  As he leaves the Skinner household to meet up with his brothers and set off on their night of fun he has an idea..._

_“Marc,” Eric says in a commanding voice as he steps up to his brothers, itching for their night to begin.  “I need you to take Jordan down the street that way, come up Thunder way, then head back down Johnson before looping back to here!  I’m taking Jared up the street to do Keys Crossing Loop.”_

_“That’s a long way,” Marc’s eyes bug out._

_“Yeah.  You guys are going to be running,” Eric orders.  “Jeff is sick and can’t make it out tonight.  So we’re going to get as much candy as humanly possible.”_

_Marc nods, accepting the mission.  Jordan is ecstatic at the prospect as he’s been bouncing off the walls all day.  The run will help release that energy._

_“For Jeff!”  Eric says putting his hand in the circle the brothers have formed._

_“For Jeff!”  They all shout and they take off.  Jordan’s red cape dancing behind his Superman costume as Marc dressed as a zombie chases after._

_Eric puts his arm around Jared who’s dressed as a Mountie.  “You ready buddy?”_

_He grins back.  “Let’s do this!”_

-

“Yeah,” Eric says shaking the memory from his head.  “Yeah, I did get everything I wanted.”

Jeff chuckles.  “What’d you wish for?”

Eric groans because Jeff is still not dressed and his wish is dangerously close to coming true.  “Nothing possible.”

“You sure?”  Jeff teases.  Eric sighs in relief as Jeff slides a pair of jeans on from his gym bag.  He grabs a tee shirt but neglects to put it on as he corrals his things preparing to leave. 

“Yeah, I’m sure...” Eric says absently as he admires Jeff’s back rippling with each movement.  Eric tries to remind himself of the age difference.  It’s his last bastion against the growing urge to tell Jeff how he really feels.

Jeff stands back up and holds the shirt in his hand as he quickly steps up to Eric and places a soft kiss on his lips. 

_“Wow...”_ one of them says...

-

_“Wow!”  Jeff, even as sick as he is, can’t hide the extreme excitement at the sight in front of him._

_Breathless, Eric has just emptied his bag on top of the already impressive single pile accumulated by the other three Staal brothers._

_The four sit down around the pile of candy, panting as their chests heave from the exertion of running through the entire neighborhood._

_Eric then lazily puts his arm into the pile and begins to shift it around until there are five equal piles of treats and prizes, each stationed in front of each boy._

_“Did you guys do this for me?”  Jeff is awestruck by his friends._

_“Don’t look at us,” Marc manages between heavy breaths, some sweat has dripped down and ruined the effect of the zombie make-up.  “This was Eric’s idea.”_

_Eric blushes and smiles._

_“Thanks Eric!”  Jeff says as excited as a sick boy can sound._

_“Yeah,” Eric mumbles.  “Now let’s trade!”_

-

“What was that for?”  Eric breaths as Jeff steps back from the single peck he’s placed on his lips.

“Wasn’t _for_ anything.  I just wanted to do it,” Jeff says with an odd amount of confidence.  It feels like the final step of someone in a make-it-or-break-it situation.  Like Jeff is swinging his foot over the edge of a cliff and he’s waiting to see if he gets pulled back or just falls off.

Eric, frozen, contemplates the kiss.  He wishes Jeff were wearing the shirt so he could pull him back into him and kiss him hard.  Instead he pushes Jeff off the cliff and closely follows as he falls with him.  They land on the hard ground and Eric presses his lips into Jeff’s hard.  Jeff is smiling and giggling behind the kiss, but neither of them cares.  It’s like they’re on a sugar-high with no crash.  And if the sweetness makes Jeff sick, Eric will just have to do everything in his power to cheer Jeff up again.


End file.
